The Past Does Haunt
by BlueJewel
Summary: Sure, we all know Peter Pan's encounter with the Darling kids, but what about his past? His past may affect the future of the Lost Boys and all of Never Land.
1. Lost Boys and Tigers

A/N: I'm actually writing this in a notebook because I found out it's very hard to get onto the  
computer when one has a little brother addicted to online games. So I'm writing this and typing  
the chapters as I finish them or find the time.   
  
It's kinda a take on the Peter Pan story the way I think it should be. The first few  
chapters  
are how Captain Hook gets his name and the Darling past. So far I'm liking this story a lot more  
than I liked Merlin's Heir so you can expect a lot more updates on this one.   
  
I also want you to know that I changed the names of the Lost Boys because I read the  
book but I can't remember the Boys' names or most of the pirates' names except for the ones in  
the Disney movie. If you could tell me what the names are in your reviews I could fix them.   
Thanks.  
  
OK...on with the story...  
  
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Chapter One  
  
A shimmering blue light, like a star hovering on a string, buzzed sulkily next to a boy's  
ear. The ear, if not the light beside it, was fairly average if on overlooks the way the very tips  
came to a point under his uncombed russet hair. Two straight eyebrows quirked up at the buzz of  
the little light and the sapphire eyes below them sparkled with a barely contained mischievousness.   
The lips curled into a smile beneath the pert nose that twitched at a scent.  
  
"What is it, Tinkerbell?" the boy demanded in a furtive hiss.  
  
The light buzzed indignantly and a tiny human-shaped shadow landed square on the tip of  
the boy's nose. A woman dressed in periwinkle robes with cropped blonde hair peered into the  
boy's eyes with her hands on her hips haughtily. Her voice was but a squeak but the fury in it was  
obvious.  
  
"Honestly, Peter, I can hardly find any of the Boys in this mess of bushes! Cann we not  
picnic someplace else?"  
  
The boy called Peter brushed gently at the fairy, producing a breeze strong enough to  
knock her off her precarious perch.  
  
"We're not picnicking, Tink," he told her with a small giggle. "We're on the lookout for  
that tiger Oscar says he saw yesterday." He glanced suddenly at the hovering blue light and said  
in a low, accusing, voice, "None of the Boys ate my sandwich, I hope."  
  
Tinkerbell left the clump of bushes where Peter knelt and zoomed off into the trees  
without answering. Her light faded perfectly into the early morning gloom before sunrise. It was  
bound to be a cloudy, maybe rainy, day and Peter didn't want to be chasing any tigers through the  
woods in that sort of weather. His Boys would desert him quick as lightning once the rain started  
anyhow.  
  
Morning was a way off though, and he wasn't even positive it would rain at all before  
night fell on Never Land. That was what he and his Boys called the place they lived. Simon had  
coined the name when he was first discovered by Peter, hiding in a shallow cave near Mermaid  
Lagoon. When he asked where he was, Peter shrugged his shoulders and announced, "You make  
up a name. We don't call it nothing yet."  
  
So Simon thought and thought and thought until he decided on Never Land. "Because we  
never get older here!"  
  
It was true. Peter and the Lost Boys had been boys since they came here, before any  
could stretch their earliest memories. Usually, they didn't like thinking about before their arrivals  
in Never Land because they all knew that whatever had been before, could be nothing compared  
to the adventures they had now.  
  
  
One such adventure was in the progress, but, as Peter would point out later in the  
Hideout, it was not one of their most exciting. No orange and black cats showed up from  
predawn to breakfast time and everybody was starving. So Peter inserted two fingers into his  
mouth and gave the signal whistle. Eight muddy, sleepy-eyed, boys fell out of various bushes and  
out of tree branches when they heard Peter.  
  
Two Boys, identical from fiery red hair to huge calloused feet, brushed at their tattered  
clothes self-consciously and stepped up to Peter's bush with importance dripping off their very  
bodies.  
  
One cleared his throat but the other spoke first. "Lost Boys numbers 3 and 4 reporting,  
Peter, sir!"  
  
His twin nodded curtly with a stiff frown on his freckled face. "We ain't seen no tigers,  
sir, nor elephants, nor anything of interest atall."  
  
"Thank you, Will and Dill," Peter said, leaping to his feet and startling the twins from their  
testimonies. "Som let's get back to the Hideout and sort through the data.   
  
Will and Dill stepped back with respect for the leader of the Lost Boys a band of ragtag  
youngsters who knew the ways of Never Land and a dagger as second nature. Nothing got past  
their leader, Peter, who was assumed the oldest because he was the tallest and wisest of the  
bunch. Only Tinkerbell was impertinent to him, but she was like that with everybody.   
  
The Lost Boys stood in a loose ring around a glen in the thick forest of the island. The  
nine Boys blended into the camoflouge of the trees nicely with their filthy stained clothes and  
mud-flecked hair. The untrained eye would rove over them without noticing the bright eyes  
shining amid the foliage and earnest gazes on smudged faces.  
  
Peter had been the leader for as long as anybody could recall and would never have it  
another way. He was like an older brother to the Boys but not an adult brother. Adults were  
not allowed on the island of Never Land. And the Lost Boys enforced this law with a vengeance. 


	2. Daggers and Pirates

A/N: Wow...I actually put another chapter up on a story already posted! Whoo Hoo! Ok...this is  
the second chapter where the plot begins and, in my opinion is much more interesting. I'm also  
not changing any names even if I asked for them because I just don't feel like it. :P  
  
Disclaimer: The story is mine, any characters you don't recognize are mine. Everything else is the  
property of whoever owns it.  
  
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Chapter Two  
  
The Hideout was really a tree that had rooted itself onto the side of a small knoll on  
the outskirts of the forest, a short walk from the Mermaid Lagoon. An ancient fire had hollowed  
the insides of the tree and a cave-in had opened the depths of the knoll to the inquisitive boys.  
  
The entrance to the Hideout was a secret known only to the Lost Boys and Peter knew  
several more into his own room. If the entrance was spoken of in the open forest, or anywhere  
where somebody other than a Lost Boy could overhear the secret, Peter would forbid anybody to  
go anywhere near the Hideout for two days or so until they were all convinced that it was safe  
once again.   
  
Savages were the enemies of the Lost Boys and the antagonists of most of their games.   
Each boy had been captured at least once but always released when they explained that they were  
tired of playing this game. Chief Long Feather hardly minded releasing them.   
  
Pirates were different though. None of the present nine Lost Boys had been face-to-face  
with a pirate, and hoped to keep it that way. Their ship, The Jolly Roger, would often slide with  
the tide near the Mermaid Lagoon and the Boys would risk a glance at the gloomy ship. Sam  
swore he had heard songs coming from the deck when The Jolly Roger came especially close to  
the Hideout. But Peter dismissed this idea by proposing that Sam had only heard the mermaids,  
his friends, singing their nightly lullabies to each other.   
  
  
The next time The Jolly Roger came into the Mermaid Lagoon Peter was the first one out  
on the jetty to see his share of the pirates. For now, he had his thoughts and the Lagoon all to  
himself.  
  
"If I could only get my dagger on one of those pirates!" he whispered to himself in the  
night mist.  
  
The moon was only a sliver, the dark concealing the boy from view of the crow's nest.   
Clouds, only shadowy wisps this late at night, drifted lazily past the stars and the silver crescent.   
The tide-worn, smooth, rocks of the jetty cooled Peter's bare toes and salty water lapped at his  
splayed fingers as he lounged back to watch his favorite nemesis glide serenely under the stars.  
  
Lights flickered on the deck and through portholes casting a glow over the peaceful  
Lagoon. It was too bright and unnatural. Peter decided, when his sharp ears caught a hint of  
something on the beach behind him. The noise seemed to come closer and closer until it whirred  
past his pointed ear and bounced over the soft waves. One of the lights from the pirate ship  
moved faster than the rest, the same rate as the noise. The light skipped away from the ship and  
neared the dangerous end of the jetty. Peter had often fantasized The Jolly Roger striking those  
oversized, sharp rocks and bobbing out to sea as jetsam. Now, however, he fixed his eyes on the  
strange, yet very familiar light, as it came closer. In an instant, he knew exactly what to expect  
and readied himself for it.  
  
He turned his head slightly to the left and let some water fill his gaping mouth. Closing his  
eyes and staying as sill as possible, he waited patiently for the light to reach him.  
  
A faint blue hint touched the yellow center of the light. Short golden hair streamed behind  
the fairy's head and her bewitching azure eyes searched the Lagoon for her dear Peter. He had  
left the Hideout stealthily enough to trick the others, but not Tinkerbell. That pirate ship was too  
close tonight and she had to get Peter back to the safety of the Hideout. It was her unspoken  
responsibility. Without her, the Lost Boys certainly would be lost, in her opinion.  
  
A sudden burst of salty, freezing, water streamed up at her from the rocks she flew over.   
Blue robes were ruined and hair soaked. She sputtered and gagged on the salt and almost fell  
from the air.   
  
A merry laugh startled her. The voice accompanying it filled her heart with either relief or  
fury. "Sorry, Tink," he said, "didn't see you there."  
  
She could not get her breath back to speak so only turned haughtily away from him and  
sped off towards the Hideout. Her anger would get the better of her and she loved Peter too  
much to be mad at him for long.  
  
Peter watched her indignant retreat and frowned. Tinkerbell had been very touchy lately,  
but all fairies had their bad moods.  
  
He shrugged it off and sat up, tucking his legs under him. The Jolly Roger was halfway  
across the Lagoon and coming closer to the jetty and the main island at an alarming speed. He  
squinted and could see the man in the crow's nest quite distinctly. A telescope was held up to the  
pirate's eye and Peter knew Tinkerbell had drawn their attention. He looked back at the island  
and was relieved not to see her bright light. So the pirates could not follow her back to the  
Hideout.   
  
"They won't get past me," he breathed into his palm. His trusty dagger, affectionately  
called Bloody Finger, was cold against his thigh and he untied it quickly.  
  
The rocks were slippery and the tide was rushing in faster than Peter had expected. The  
Jolly Roger's lights were being extinguished one by one so Peter could scarcely see the scurrying  
men on deck even if they were getting closer by the second, as he wasted time standing on the  
jetty.   
  
Water lapped at his feet and stung the tops of his ankles. The rock he perched on became  
even slippier and his balance was off. Bloody Finger slid in his sweaty fingers.  
  
He would stand his ground if these notorious villains tried to land! All that was necessary  
was to get to the beach in case they passed the jetty without seeing him there.  
  
Blessing his lightness, Peter was able to leap over a deepening tide pool separating him  
from his destination but his back foot slid on a puddle of algae and he stumbled. At that moment,  
The Jolly Roger approached the center of the Lagoon and a rowboat was being lowered carefully.   
He jumped the last few feet and landed on the grainy sand of the beach. The rowboat landed in  
the water with a soft distant splash. Peter felt for Bloody Finger. His fist was empty.  
  
He panicked. Where was his dagger? The only weapon in the ownership of the Lost  
Boys except the broken bow and the two arrows saved for emergencies. It had been entrusted to  
Peter long, long, ago and he had lost it so foolishly!  
  
Six pirates stroked slowly, trying to muffle the oars' splashing. One very tall man stood at  
the bow of the boat. His foot was resting on top of the side of the boat and a feather in his huge  
hat fluttered in the light breeze coming from the sea.  
  
Peter leapt back onto the jetty. He had to find that dagger before it was swept out to sea.   
The tide pool he had jumped over just minutes before was now the end of the jetty. He knelt on  
his heels and felt around for the hard metal hilt of Bloody Finger in the cold water. His fingertips  
froze and numbed until he could not feel the rock he stood on when he rushed for the beach.  
  
There arose a cry from the rowboat. He had been spotted. His legs were fast but he did  
not want to lead the pirates to the Hideout. There was nowhere else to run to.   
  
"Why run?" he asked himself, not caring if the rowers could hear. "Peter, leader of the  
Lost Boys of Never Land, is not a coward!"  
  
"Not a coward, eh?" a cruel, hard, voice cackled from the rowboat. "Are you a man,  
then? Quite small to be a man."  
  
Peter tried to make himself seem more robust and taller by spreading his legs apart and  
placing his clenched fists on his hips.  
  
"Who wants to be a man when they don't give their names in their challenge?" he crowed  
loudly.  
  
One of the pirates muttered something. A lantern was lit in the rowboat and Peter realized  
with a start that the pirates were struggling to get out of the boat onto the beach. They obviously  
did not have their land legs by the way they staggered and fumbled with the long sabers in their  
belts. Peter saw his advantage.  
  
He rushed at the man with the feather in his hat and managed to get his grip on the hilt of  
something. He yanked just as the pirate pushed him away. A fishing hook of the largest size  
Peter had ever seen came loose in his hand and he brandished it wildly in the bigger man's face  
once he regained his balance.  
  
A sailor called, "Cap'n? Do we attack, sir?"  
  
The Captain, the man whom Peter dodged from, took his gaze off of the boy to say, "No!   
Let me handle Peter, leader of the Lost Boys."  
  
"Who are you?" Peter asked as calmly as he could. He parried a blow from the Captain's  
arm and scuttled to the side when he saw the man's left hand reach for his sword.  
  
The chance Peter needed. He swung the huge hook and was surprised to feel it make  
contact with skin, muscle, bone. The Captain's scream curdled the blood of all there and Peter  
tried to run. But the hook would not come loose and every time he pulled, the pirate captain  
bellowed in pain. His right hand crossed and groped for Peter's neck. The boy felt icy fingers  
clutching his collarbone and he left the hook where it was.  
  
A light nearly blinded him when he turned from the enraged scene before him.   
"Tinkerbell!" he shouted. "Now you come!"  
  
The fairy sped into the Captain's face who fell back, startled the incoming tide with his  
bulk. The rest of his men fled to their rowboat, shouting about reinforcements and crazy half-  
beast, half-boys.   
  
Peter ran to the water's edge where Tinkerbell harassed the Captain and grabbed the  
hook, which was still stuck fast in his wrist. He mustered all his strength and shoved with a great  
weight so the hand completely severed from the arm and the hook was free.  
  
"Hook!" the Captain was shouting. "Hook!"  
  
Peter pushed his sweaty hair off his forehead and saluted. "Thank you, Cap'n Hook. I  
hope to see you again soon."  
  
Tinkerbell landed on Peter's hair and fairy dust flooded the entire area around him. An  
image crowded into his mind's eye but he pushed it away and settled himself with the happiest  
memory he owned. Something he had never shared with the Lost Boys and was aroused bu this  
battle with a pirate captain named Hook  
  
His feet lifted off the bloody sand and the sea breeze rustled his hair and clothes. His eyes  
flew open and he saw the Lagoon grow smaller and smaller until it was gone underneath a wispy  
gray cloud.  
  
"Tinkerbell!" Peter called. "What did you do?"  
  
Her small voice floated over and she perched on his nose. Gazing at him with a ravishing  
smile, she said, "I sprinkled fairy dust on you, of course. You almost fainted down there and I  
knew the flying would clear your head."  
  
Peter did a cartwheel in the air, losing the fairy in the process, and whooped. "This is  
amazing, Tink!" Thank so much. Can I always fly now?"  
  
The little woman settled herself back on his face and puckered her lips. He did not even  
notice her in his joy of flight. She could not understand his amazement and flew off to pout in her  
favorite pouting spot in a tree near the Hideout.  
  
Peter only performed more cartwheels and rolls in midair for his own entertainment and  
whooped and hollered in glee. He could spend the rest of the night just floating in the night sky  
under the stars but over the clouds. This was extreme perfection. He wanted to share it with  
every one of the Boys.  
  
He rushed down to the beach where the pirates had deserted and was surprised to see (by  
the light of the forgotten lantern) the hook gone, and Captain Hook's hand in the jaws of a  
satisfied looking crocodile crouched near where the jetty was totally submerged.   
  
And there was Bloody Finger lying devoid of blood beside the crocodile, waiting for  
Peter to slide it back into place where it belonged on his leg. 


End file.
